Truckee/Little Truckee Rivers
Increased Water Releases Spur Trout Fishing Slowdown
TRUCKEE - We’ve seen some pretty drastic changes on the Truckee this week and subsequently a slowdown in the fishing, which was incredible just a few weeks ago. The changes come from an increased release from Lake Tahoe and decreased release out of Boca. In Tahoe City this water is coming off the top of Lake Tahoe, and it is entering into the river system at a much warmer water temp. When coupled with the weather in the upper 80’s, this has caused water temps to rise fairly quickly. This has thrown the fish in a bit of a loop, and we are seeing less activity, especially along the upper sections of the river.
While we are still seeing a good number of small fish hit the net, the larger fish are a bit more elusive this week. For those looking to fish areas of the river upstream of the Boca confluence, we ask that you carry a thermometer with you. Taking periodic temperature readings of the water and calling it when temps hit 66 degrees. Because of the cool releases out of Boca, we are still seeing water temps cool enough in the canyon (Boca to stateline) to be able to fish all day. Given the drop in flows out of Boca, the canyon is also dropping into prime shape this week, and we encourage you to head downstream in the coming months instead of focusing on the sections here in town. The fishing will be much better down in the canyon during the warmest months of the year.
We have seen the Crawdad bite really pick up over the last few weeks. Crawdads and golden stone nymphs will be prime choices for anchor flies on your tightline set up, or your top “point fly” on a bobber rig. The smaller flies to pair with these would be PMD, caddis or green drake imitations. As the fish are sitting in fast water right now, don’t be afraid to use a whole lot of weight and a whole lot of flash.
While we have seen a significant drop off in the dry fly bite, there has still been a fair amount of PMDs moving around throughout the day with a few green drakes still mixed in. If fishing the evening hours, expect to see some tan or green caddis in a size 14-16, but once again, for those fishing in the evenings, please do so anywhere below the confluence of Boca for the health of the fish and the fishery as a whole! Hoot owl closures may be voluntary here in the state of California, but other states like Montana take this issue very seriously, actually making it illegal to fish certain rivers after mid-day.
After months of abnormally high water on the Little Truckee River, we have seen flows out of the dam step down a few times this week, with the current flows at 340 CFS. This will likely continue over the next week. It appears as though there may be a few weeks of good fishable flows out here before they drop it to a projected 45 CFS to begin work on the dam around the end of the month.
Needless to say, for those of you waiting for the time to head back out here, we would say it’s now. After such sustained high flows for so long, it will be tough to say how the LT will fish this week, but typically this fishery is very quick to become good again after a change in conditions.
This is the prime time to fish PMDs out here, and this would by and large be what we recommend focusing on for both nymphs and dries. Worms, midges and BWOs are also a year-round food source out here and will help round out your fly selection for this tailwater. With the flows still on the high side and far less fishing pressure than normal for out here, using larger flies like craws or stones would be a fun way to get the weight needed on your euro rod and grab those aggressive fishes' attention.
We would also recommend streamers this week with the drop in flows. Because this is a bottom release river, it will fish great sun up to sun down, and anglers are encouraged to fish the odd hours of the day to see fewer people and potentially better fishing.
- Miles Zimmerman, Trout Creek Outfitters.
